Drawing of Observatory
Fridays At Sperry

AAI holds its regular monthly meetings on the third Friday of the month from Sept. through May in the Auditorium or Main Lecture Hall on the Union County Community College campus. On all other Friday evenings, AAI presents talks which are held in the Sperry Observatory classroom at 7:30 and 8:30pm. These are free and open to the public. On these Fridays, the observatory is open from 7:00 to 10:30 pm.

Groups are urged to contact the scheduler to confirm the availability of space.

Presentations for Groups of Young People
(October thru June):
Members of AAI hold these programs at 7:30pm. The talks are suitable for younger audiences. These presentations range in subject from Solar System objects to the constellations. (Available only in the months October thru June.)

Groups are specifically urged to contact the scheduler to make arrangements.

Programs for the General Public:
Held at 8:30 pm, these programs review different astronomical topics covering a wide variety of subjects such as: Archaeoastronomy; How to buy a Telescope; The Sun; Spectroscopy; X-ray Stars; etc. The presenters are usually members of AAI who have a special interest in these topics, and they may present in slide, overhead, or computer graphic formats. The current program schedule is shown below. On those Fridays when no speaker has been scheduled, an astronomy-related video may be shown.
September 5, 2008 What's Up: A Down-to-Earth Sky Guide   Kathy Vaccari
September 12, 2008 Space Missions Updates   Ray Shapp
September 19, 2008 General Meeting  
Click here for schedule
September 26, 2008 Ask Dr Lew   Dr. Lew
October 3, 2008 What's Up: A Down-to-Earth Sky Guide   Kathy Vaccari
October 10, 2008 First Light: the History of the Telescope   Al Witzgall
October 17, 2008 General Meeting  
Click here for schedule
October 24, 2008 Making Time for Mars   Bonnie Witzgall
October 31, 2008 Ask Dr Lew   Dr. Lew
November 7, 2008 What's Up: A Down-to-Earth Sky Guide   Kathy Vaccari
November 14, 2008 Is Pluto a Planet?   Laurel Kornfeld and Mike Luciuk
November 21, 2008 General Meeting  
Click here for schedule
November 28, 2008 Ask Dr Lew   Dr. Lew
December 5, 2008 What's Up: A Down-to-Earth Sky Guide   Kathy Vaccari
December 12, 2008 Tis the Season: Telescope Buyers Beware   Mark Shoengold
December 19, 2008 General Meeting  
Click here for schedule
December 26, 2008 Ask Dr Lew   Dr. Lew
January 2, 2009 What's Up: A Down-to-Earth Sky Guide   Kathy Vaccari
January 9, 2009 TBA   Clif Ashcraft
January 16, 2009 General Meeting  
Click here for schedule
January 23, 2009 Our Eye from Above: The Hubble Space Telescope   Michelle Tofel
January 30, 2009 Ask Dr Lew   Dr. Lew
February 6, 2009 What's Up: A Down-to-Earth Sky Guide   Kathy Vaccari
February 13, 2009 TBA    
February 20, 2009 General Meeting  
Click here for schedule
February 27, 2009 Dilemmas of Daylight Saving Time   Bonnie Witzgall
From 7:30 to 10:30pm, whenever weather conditions permit, the public is invited to view the night skies through the 24-inch reflector and the 10-inch refractor telescopes. Trained observers are on hand to operate this equipment and to answer your questions.

This service is provided to you free of charge, and we have lots of free parking. Of course, donations are always welcome.

A note to AAI Members: We wish to encourage all AAI members to get involved and present astronomy topics on Friday evenings to the public. If interested, please contact Ray Shapp

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Page last updated 10/15/2008